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What is an ecosystem?
- All the interacting parts of a biological community and its environment.
- eg. Pacific ocean
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What is a sustainable ecosystem?
An ecosystem that is capable of withstanding pressure and giving support to a variety of organisms.
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Biotic
The living parts of an ecosystem.
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Abiotic
The non living parts of an ecosystem.
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What is the lithosphere?
- The hard part of Eath's surface, comes from the Greek word stone.
- (Abiotic)
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What is the hydrosphere?
All the water found on Earth, including lakes, oceans and ground water.
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What is the atmosphere?
The layer of gases above Earth's surface.
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What is the biosphere?
The regions of Earth where living organisms exist.
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What is a nutrient?
A chemical that is essential to living things and is cycled trough ecosystems (Water,Carbon,Nitrogen and Phosphorus).
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What is eutrophication?
A process in which nutrient levels in aquatic ecosystems increase, leading to an increase in the populations of primary producers(algae, leading to ecosystem slowly dying).
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What is photosynthesis?
The process that changes solar energy into chemical energy(sugars-glucose).
- Word equation:
- Carbon & water in the presence of light to produce
- with chlorophyll oxygen & glucose
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What is a trophic level?
- A category of organisms that is defined by how the organisms gain their energy.
- eg. primanry producers, primany consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers
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What is biomass?
The mass of living cells and tissues that has been assembled by organisms using solar energy.
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What is trophic efficiency?
- A measure of the amount of energy or biomass transferred from one tropic level to the net (higher) trophic level.
- ~10% of energy gets transferred.

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What is bioaccumulation?
- The process in which toxins (or other materials) are ingested by an organism at a rate greater than they are eliminated.
 - The monach eats milkweed as a caterpillar and when it is developed uses the poison to its advantage. It is a defense because it will kill the predators that eat it, but the toxins will not harm or affect the butterfly.
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What is biomagnification?
A process in which the concentration of ingested toxins increases as it moves from one trophic level to the next.
Secondary consumers have to consume more primary consumers to fulfill their needs, that is how the mount of toxins are magnified.
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What is cellular respiration?
A process that releases energy from organic molecules, especially carbohydrates, in the presence of oxygen. Occurs when oxygen is present or is under aerobic conditions.
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What is fermentation?
A process that releases energy from organic molecules, especially carbohydrates, in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic).Organisms like bacteria and some fungi use fermentatoin to release the energy in glucose.
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What are greenhouse gases?
Atmospheric gases that prevent heat from leaving the atmosphere, thus increasing the temperature of the atmosphere.
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What is the greenhouse effect?
The warming of Earth as a result of greenhouse gases, which trap some of the energy that would otherwise leave Earth.
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What is acid precipitation?
- Rain, snow or fog tht is unnaturally acidic due to gases in the atmosphere that react with water to form acids.

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